Sanctuary Line

From the #1 national bestselling author of Away , The Stone Carvers , and A Map of Glass , Sanctuary Line is the eagerly anticipated new novel by Jane Urquhart.

Set in the present day on a farm at the shores of Lake Erie, Jane Urquhart's stunning new novel weaves elements from the nineteenth-century past, in Ireland and Ontario, into a gradually unfolding contemporary story of events in the lives of the members of one family that come to alter their futures irrevocably. There are ancestral lighthouse-keepers, seasonal Mexican workers; the migratory patterns and survival techniques of the Monarch butterfly; the tragedy of a young woman's death during a tour of duty in Afghanistan; three very different but equally powerful love stories. Jane Urquhart brings to vivid life the things of the past that make us who we are, and reveals the sometimes difficult path to understanding and forgiveness.

Comment

Beautifully written and layered tale of the migrations of monarchs and families in the midst of the Lake Erie waves. Urquhart also gets the prize for the most appearances of the word "bifurcate" in a novel.

"Sanctuary Line is a book lover's novel, weaving together children's poetry, 19th-century American fiction and family myths into a unique literary pastiche. In one of Stan's family myths, for instance, a Stephen Crane story dovetails with the life of a Butler great-great.Urquhart strikes me as quite experimental. Her novels aim to map out the true contours of existence rather than fit any conventional form. This can go too far, as when she delivers a brick-by-brick account of 19th-century barn-raising. Her sometimes awkwardly shaped sentences – strange exercises in over-explaining – may also frustrate the reader. Yet, her writing is often beautiful, stirring: Liz's experience of the natural world especially mesmerizes. And the ending, when it comes, is well worth the wait, revealing the answers to mysteries we didn't even know existed. "
The Globe And Mail

Having read and enjoyed prior novels from Ms. Urquhart, I looked forward to finally getting a crack at Sanctuary Line. Boy, was I disappointed! You have to have the patience of Job to stick with this novel.

Partic. interesting as have recently visited the area of Ontario she is writing about & liked the way the story of the monarchs is interweaved through the narrator's tale - seeing the butterflies crossing Lake Erie was amazing. Liked the ending chapters. Slight reservation in that the 'awful event' was so often eluded to during the story that I felt it didn't progress as smoothly as it would have if refered to less often.

"Set on the windy shores of the Lake Erie, Jane Urquhart's narrator is a lepidopterist with a passion for monarch butterflies. A gradually unfolding family saga and three surprising and powerful love stories."
A Chatelaine top pick.